Description
English earthenware plate with cut sides
Stamped BWM & Cie / Canova
Sold individually
Distributed in France in the 19th century by Emile Bourgeois (1832-1926), for his store “Le Grand Dépôt” located at 21 rue Drouot, Paris 9°
Le Grand Dépôt d'Emile Bourgeois was founded in 1863 and was the largest house in the world for table, dessert and crystal services.
Emile Bourgeois was one of the rare businessmen of his time to speak English fluently, which allowed him to do business with English merchants, without intermediaries.
While he had just spent several years in England (from 1856 to 1860) where he had been able to closely study the resources offered by the branch of commerce, Emile Bourgeois returned to France, after the signing of commercial treaties (Gladstone, 1860), as a representative of the principal English manufactures.
He founded in 1863, at 21 rue Drouot, at the corner of rue de Provence in Paris, a store, modest at first, which was to serve as an outlet for English ceramic products: the "Grand Dépôt". (source: blog “glass and crystal”)
Like the "Crystal Staircase", Le Grand Dépôt did not manufacture, but resold models corresponding to the tastes of its customers, which it found from manufacturers such as Choisy le Roi or Gien. A visionary businessman, Emile Bourgeois printed catalogs that defined and promoted the “Grand Dépôt” style.
His store is now occupied by a medical analysis laboratory.
